Industry News

Can you get 4K on a mobile device? Morega Systems works with ViXS Systems to be first to market with an Ultra HD 4K mobile media solution.

ViXS’ 8th-generation XCode 6400 10-bit HEVC Ultra HD System-on-Chip (SoC) is the first chip available on the market to meet the challenges of 10-bit media processing in a single low-power, cost-effective package – and that will help drive the transition to Ultra HD across the entire content distribution value chain.

The XCode 6400 delivers Ultra HD 4K content at the full resolution of 3840x2160 up to 60 frames per second in Main 10 Profile. The 10-bit HEVC processing enables greater than 1 billion colors, creating smoother color transitions that resolve color-banding issues plaguing lower bit-depth formats.

The Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) announces the consumer brand for its wireless power technology-- Rezence, a name the alliance will use to support the A4WP product certification program.

Apparently "Rezence" combines "resonance" and "essence" to provide a catchier name to the non-radiative magnetic resonance technology differing the A4WP standard from the others. As a logo it gets a letter Z with an electricity symbol running through the middle.

The alliance insists the wireless charging technology can charge "all types of electronic devices," and can be integrated in "almost any surface."

“The launch of our new Rezence brand represents an important milestone as we finalize the A4WP product certification program and A4WP members bring the first wave of Rezence-enabled products to market in early 2014,” A4WP president Dr. Kamil A. Grajski says.

3M and SunParter Technologies kick off co-development on what the two companies claim is the first consumer transparent solar charging system, a combination of Wyspis Crystal and Optically Clear Adhesive (OCA) technologies.

The collaboration should result in an ultrathin and transparent component able to charge devices via natural or artificial light.

Wysips (What You See Is Photovoltaic Surface) Crystal is an ultrathin transparent photovoltaic layer OEMs can embed in device displays. Meanwhile OCA is a widely used manufacturing process from 3M able to eliminate common adhesive visual defects such as bubbling.

The European Commission announces what it describes as its most ambitious plan in 26 years of telelcoms market reform-- one involving the reduction of consumer charges, simplification of red tape and new rights for users and service providers.

"Further substantial progress towards a European single market for telecoms is essential for Europe's strategic interests and economic progress," EC president Jose Manuel Barroso says. "For the telecoms sector itself and for citizens who are frustrated that they do not have full and fair access to Internet and mobile services."

The so called "Connected Europe" plan involves the scrapping of roaming fees, building on the roaming cap the EC introduced on 2012. If all goes to plan, from 1 July 2014 companies will have to either offer phone plans that apply everywhere within the 28 EU states ("roam like at home") or allow customers to opt for a separate roaming provider without need for a new SIM card.

Vodafone's multiple European units are set to become one-- from October 2013 the company merges its N. & C. Europe and S. Europe regions into a single entity, with N. & C. Europe CEO Philipp Humm as Regional CEO Europe.

S. Europe boss Paolo Bertoluzzo takes the functions of COO. The restructuring also involves the expansion of the group function to comprise Brand, Consumer, Unified Communications, Terminals, Customer Operations and Partner Markets.

At the same time the Turkish Vodafone operating company will be united within the Africa, M. East and Asia-Pacific region.

Belkin announces an addition to the Mixit DuraTek durable cable line-- a USB-C cable featuring Kevlar-reinforced conductors and double-braided nylon shielding on the outside.
The USB-C cable is certified by both...

Snap-- aka the rebranded Snapchat-- announces the Spectacles, its video-recording sunglasses, are now available in Europe, 7 months after an initial US launch.
For the unfamiliar, the Spectacles are a pair...